Method of stacking and destacking barrels

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for stacking and destacking cylindrical as well as bulgy barrels which allow barrels to be stacked in several rows one on top of the other and to remove the rows of barrels one row after the other again. The apparatus includes a support frame with a storage bay for receiving the barrels. The storage bay includes a bottom feed and discharge opening through which several barrels which have been aligned in a row on a conveyor may be introduced into the bay. Means are provided for feeding the barrels to the feed and discharge opening, for aligning the barrels in a predetermined position, for lifting the barrels into the storage bay and for retaining the barrels within the bay.

United States Patent Arnemann Dec. 12, 1972 [54] METHOD OF STACKING AND3,534,525 10/1970 Cleland ..2l4/6 BA x DESTACKING BARRELS P E R b 1rimary xaminero ert J. par [72] Inventor: Gerhard Arnemann, Vossbarg 41,

D2080 Pinneberg Germany Attorney McGlew and Toren [22] Filed: March25,1971 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl.No.: 127,920 A method and an apparatusfor stacking and Related US. Application Data Division of Ser.No.'4,549, Jan. 21, 1970, Pat. No.

US. Cl ..2l4/l52, 214/6 BA, 214/85 K Int. Cl. ..B65g 57/30, B65g 60/00Field of Search...2l4/152, 6 BA, 6 N, 6.5, 8.5 K

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,470,795 Socke ..2l4/6 N Xdestacking cylindrical as well as bulgy barrels which allow barrels tobe stacked in several rows one on top of the other and to remove therows of barrels one row after the other again. The apparatus includes asupport frame with a storage bay for receiving the barrels. The storagebay includes a bottom feed and discharge opening through which severalbarrels which have been aligned in a row on a conveyor may be introducedinto the bay. Means are provided for feeding the barrels to the feed anddischarge opening, for aligning the barrels in a predetermined position,for lifting the barrels into the storage bay and for retaining thebarrels within the bay.

1 Claim, 7 Drawing; Figures METHOD OF STACKING AND DESTACKING BARRELSThis is a division of application Ser. No. 4,549, filed Jan. 21, 1970,now U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,149.

This invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for the stackingand the destacking of barrels.

Empty barrels as well as filled barrels containing various substancessuch as chemicals, chemical base products, paints, lacquers or any otherproducts require considerable storage space, especially since in mostinstances it is not possible to stack the barrels in several layers oneupon the other so that the storage of these barrels requires relativelylarge areas. For the stacking of barrels resting on pallets suitablefork lift type conveyors are required, the lifting height of which isrestricted. Moreover, if the barrels are stacked on pallets, thesepallets cannot be utilized for any other stacking goods. Therefore alarge supply of pallets is required, and these pallets themselvesrequire a considerable storage space.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the'present invention toprovide an improved method of stacking and destacking cylindrical aswell as bul gy barrels,"drums and the like.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a method ofstacking and destacking barrels which allows to readily and economicallystack barrels in several rows one on top of the other within a minimumspace or in a minimum storage area respectively.

A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for thestacking and the destacking of barrels.

For achieving the above objects, the invention proposes a method ofstacking and destacking barrels according to which method the barrelsare grouped into several rows, the individual rows of barrels aredisplaced by a distance corresponding to half a barrel diameter towardsthe one side or towards the other side, then the rows of barrels arelifted into the bottom opening of a storage bay, at the same timemaintaining the lowermost row of barrels together with the rows ofbarrels supported on top of this lowermost row in a raised position bymeans of holding members provided in the zone of the feed opening of thestorage bay, and that for destacking the barrels the holding members arereleased from engagement with the barrels of the lowermost row ofbarrels and the lowermost row of barrels together with the rows ofbarrels supported on top of the lowermost row of barrels are lowered bya distance corresponding to the height of one row of barrels and thelowermost row of barrels is led off while, at the same time, the nextnew lowermost row of barrels is engaged by the holding members.

According to a further feature of the present invention the apparatusfor stacking and destacking barrels comprises a horizontal support framehaving support legs and carrying a storage bay with a bottom feed anddischarge opening for receiving barrels which have been aligned in arow, the width of the storage bay corresponding to the maximum diameterof the barrels, a carriage below the feed and discharge opening of thestorage bay, the carriage movable in a direction parallel to the feedand discharge opening and including a rectangular frame of a widthcorresponding to the maximum diameter of the barrels, the frameincluding longitudinal beam members carrying holding members at theinner surfaces of the beam members, the holding members adapted tosupport the barrels and arranged side by side along the longitudinalbeam members of the carriage frame whereby the spacing of the holdingmembers corresponds to the maximum diameter of the barrels, and theholding members on the opposing beam members mutually face each other, arotatable conveyor means below the support frame with the earriage andthe feed and discharge opening of the storage bay, the conveyor meansadapted to rotate in a direction parallel to the direction of movementof the carriage and adapted to align the barrels in a row, an abutmentmounted on the discharge side of and above the conveyor means in thefeeding path of the barrels, the abutment adapted to limit the length ofa row of barrels and being movable by half a barrel diameter eithertowards the infeed side or towards the discharge side of the conveyormeans whereby the direction of movement of the abutment is reversible bycontrol means upon engagement of the abutment with the foremost barrelof a row of barrels fed in by the conveyor means, the conveyor meansmounted on a lifting platform and adapted to be raised past the holdingmembers of the carriage into a position adjacent to the holding members,the lifting platform including lifting means operatively coupled by acontrol means to a drive means for the carriage and coupled to theholding members so that the carriage is adapted to be displaced by halfthe largest barrel diameter into a position corresponding to thedisplaced position of the lowermost row of barrels on the conveyor withrespect to the row of barrels supported overhead of this row when theholding members have been disengaged from the row of barrels supportedabove the row of barrels standing on the conveyor means and when the rowof barrels disposed on the conveyor has been lifted up into the vicinityof the holding members.

The guiding and storage bay for the rows of barrels includes twomutually spaced lateral boundary walls mounted on the support frame, theboundary walls being of U-shaped cross-section the open sides of thewalls opposing each other and each of the walls including flanges thespacing of which corresponds to the largest diameter of the barrels sothat portions of the outermost barrels of each individual row of barrelsdisplaced with respect to the other rows of barrels are guided withinthe lateral boundary walls and each row of barrels is guided on one sideby the lateral boundary walls. The mutual spacing of the two lateralboundary walls corresponds to approximately the distance of a multipleof the diameter of a barrel and half the diameter of a barrel.

The barrels of the lowermost row of barrels of the several rows ofbarrels stacked one on top of the other are held in the carriage eitherby means of retaining or holding cams projecting into the lifting pathof the rows of barrels or by means of clamping jaws which may be appliedto the outer wall of the barrels whereas in the first-mentionedembodiment the retaining cams the barrels are supported by the cams. Theretaining cams are mounted on the inner surfaces of the longitudinalbeams of the carriage frame whereby the retaining cams on both sides ofthe beams are arranged in mutually opposing relationship. The spacing ofthe retaining cams on each of the longitudinal side beams corresponds tothe largest diameter of a barrel. For feeding the barrels together withthe carriage including the retaining cams towards the storage bay theconveyor means comprises two endless chain belts the spacing of whichcorresponds approximately to half the barrel diameter so that the chainbelts may be lifted up beyond the plane defined by the rows of retainingcams when the conveyor means is raised above the plane defined by theretaining cams.

According to a further feature of the present invention, several supportframes containing a storage bay each are mounted one behind the otherwhereby the lateral boundary walls of all of the support frames formcontinuous side walls. The foremost and the last support frame areclosed by vertical wall plates. An upper cover plate connecting the freeupper ends of the lateral boundary walls forms an upper closure of theapparatus. On the ground below the several storage bays are providedguide rails for the movable lifting platform and the conveyor allowingto move the constorage bay may be suitably selected, and the liftingcapacity of the lifting platform with the conveyor means supportedthereby must be designed accordingly because every row of barrels whichis fed into the storage bay is at first lifted so far until it engagesthe lowermost row of barrels of the rows already stacked inside thestorage bay which lowermost row of barrels is supported by the carriage.Then the row of barrels fed into the storage bay is lifted further,thereby raising all of the rows of barrels supported overhead, until thebarrel heads of the barrels standing on the conveyor have reached anelevation above the retaining cams on the carriage so that the carriagemay be moved sideways by half a barrel diameter. Since moreover theindividual rows of barrels are mutually displaced by half a barreldiameter a compound is formed allowing secure stacking even up toconsiderable heights. In the lateral boundary walls of the storage baythe individual rows are guided and held alternately in the one or in theother boundary wall. The rigidity of the barrel compound within thestorage bay may be further enhanced by a pressure plate lying on top ofthe uppermost row of barrels. Cylindrical as well as bulgy barrels maybe stacked with the same case and with the same good results. Thedestacking may be as readily effected as the stacking of barrels. Sinceseveral support frames arranged one behind the other and containing astorage bay each form an enclosure which is protected against outsideinfluences such as rain, wind and the like, the stacking apparatus donot need to be installed within specialized buildings or in confinedspaces. The novel stacking apparatus may therefore be installed inoutdoor locations. The stacking apparatus may be manufactured at lowcost and may be installed practically anywhere, making an economicalstorage of barrels feasible.

An embodiment of the apparatus for stacking and destacking according tothe present invention will be described in conjunction with the drawingin which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a stacking and destackingapparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention, theapparatus comprising a support frame with a storage bay for theindividual rows of barrels and a carriage having holding members forsupporting the barrels in the zone of the feed and discharge opening ofthe storage bay, and a bottom conveyor means adapted to be raised orlowered;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along a line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a lateral elevational view of the conveyor means adapted to beraised and lowered,'in a raised position;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken along a line IV-IV of FIG.3;

FIG. 5 is a lateral elevational view of the conveyor means adapted to beraised and lowered, and including foldable lateral guiding walls foraligning the barrels on the conveyor, and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are a lateral elevational view and a front elevationalview respectively of a further embodiment of the holder means on thecarriage.

Referring to the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing the reference 10 designates a horizontalsupport frame having support legs ll, 12 and providing a storage bay 13with a bottom feed and discharge opening 14. The feed and dischargeopening 14 is designed to receive several barrels F arranged in a row.The storage bay 13 comprises two mutually spaced lateral boundary walls15, 16 of U-type cross-section, the open sides 17, 18 of the Us mutuallyfacing each other. The width of the feed and discharge opening 14corresponds to the maximum barrel diameter whereas the length of theopening is determined by the spacing of the two boundary walls 15, 16.The mutual spacing of the flanges 19, 20 and 21, 22 of these boundarywalls 15, 15 corresponds to the maximum diameter of the barrels so thatthe barrels may be guided by these boundary walls 15, 16. The mutualspacing of the two boundary walls 15, 16 the height of which may befreely selected corresponds approximately to a distance of a multiple ofthe diameter of a barrel and a half of the diameter of a barrel. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 1 the spacing of the two boundary walls 15, 16amounts to the length of a row of five cylindrical barrels placed sideby side and half a barrel, i.e., the length of 5%. barrel diameters. Thespacing of the two boundary walls 15, 16 may also be larger or smaller,in any case however, it must correspond to a multiple of the barreldiameter plus half a barrel diameter. The storage bay 13 may also beclosed on all sides and include an upper cover plate, i.e., consist of abox-like casing provided with the bottom feed and discharge opening 14.In the latter case, the boxlike casing serves to protect the stackedbarrels against atmospheric conditions.

Guide rails 23, 24 are disposed alongside the storage bay at thelongitudinal beams on either side of the support frame 10. These guiderails serve to guide a carriage 25 movably mounted on these rails andcomprising a rectangular frame with longitudinal side beams 26, 27. Thecarriage 25 is movable in increments corresponding to half a barreldiameter by means of a drive means indicated at 28 such as a hydraulicpressure cylinder, below the bottom feed and discharge opening 14 of thestorage bay 13, in the direction of the arrow it either in a directiontowards the boundary wall 15 or in a direction towards the boundary wall16. The longitudinal beams 26, 27 of the carriage frame are provided attheir inwardly facing surfaces with retaining or holding earns 29serving to support the barrels of a row which are carried by thecarriage 25 by means of the retaining earns 29. The drive movement ofthe carriage 25 may also be effected by a mechanical or an electricaldrive means.

The retaining earns 29 of the carriage 25 are provided on thelongitudinal carriage beams 26, 27 in such a manner that the retainingcams project into the lifting path of a row of barrels to be fed intothe machine. The mutual spacing of the retaining cams 29 on each of thelongitudinal beams 26 or 27 corresponds to the maximum barrel diameter.The retaining earns 29 on the two longitudinal beams 26, 27 of thecarriage 25 oppose each other, and the length of the retaining earns 29is so designed that the retaining cams grip from below the outerportions of the barrel heads. The clearance between the two base linesdefined by the free ends of the retaining cams 29 is indicated at 30(seeFlG. 5).

Instead of the retaining earns 29 at the carriage 25 other types ofsupport members for the barrels may also be employed. At the inner sidesof the longitudinal beams 26, 27 of the carriage 25 clamping jaws 31 asshown in FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawing may be used, the clamping jaws 31comprising bearing plates 32 attached to the free ends of two-armedlevers 34 which are rotatably mounted in their center portions at 33'.The free lever ends remote from the bearing plates 32 are coupled byguiding rods 35 to a drive disk 36 operated by a motor not shown in thedrawing. The whole arrangement is such that upon suitable actuation ofthe drive disk 36 as indicated by the arrow x in FIG. 6 the clampingjaws 31 will be brought into engagement with or disengaged from theouter surface of a barrel, such as indicated by the arrow x If theclamping jaws 31 have been moved into an engagement with the barrels,the contact pressure will be maintained by the drive motor for the drivedisks 36 until releasing of the jaws 31 is desired. The jaws 31 arrangedon either of the longitudinal beams 26, 27 of the carriage 25 aresimultaneously brought into engagement with the two sides of the barreland are also simultaneously disengaged from the same. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 7 the clamping jaws 31 have the form of two bearing plates32 side by side, coupled mutually in pairs and rotatively mounted on theframe of the carriage 25. The mutually facing bearing plates of twoadjacent clamping jaws 31 are connected by means of drive rods 37 whichare coupled to a drive means indicated at 38 adapted to conveyswivelling movements to the clamping jaws 31. The clamping jaws 31 maybe arranged so as to engage the barrels in the center of the barrelheads or also above the barrel heads. To assure secure holding of thebarrels, the bearing plates 32 of the clamping jaws 31 may be of anarcuate shape which conforms to the outer profile of the barrels.Additionally, the clamping jaws 31 may be provided at their bearingsurfaces with suction cups connected by aflexible hose means to a vacuumsource. In this way, the support of the barrels may be substantiallyimproved when the clamping jaws 31 are engaged.

Below the storage bay 13 a circular type conveyor is arranged, theconveyor 40 being movable in elevation in the direction of the arrow xIf the support means provided on the carriage 25 are in the form ofclamping jaws 31, the conveyor 40 does not need to be lifted beyond thehorizontal plane defined by the carriage so that the conveyor belt 40may be provided in the form of an endless belt guided by return rollers41, 42, One of these return rollers 41, 42 serves as a drive roller. Thedirection of rotation of the belt 40 is indicated by the arrow x (FIG.1). The direction of the discharge side of the conveyor belt 40 isindicated at 43, and the infeed side at 44. Lifting and lowering theconveyor belt 40 is effected by means of a bottom lifting platform 45 onwhich is mounted the frame 46 of the conveyor belt 40. The liftingplatform 45 may be arranged stationary or movable below the supportframe 10. The latter arrangement will always be used if several supportframes in the form of units 10 having storage bays 13 are assembled onebehind the other, allowing to move the conveyor belt 40 to any of thestorage bays 13. Towards this purpose, the lifting platform 45 isprovided with rollers 47 running on rails 48 which are arrangedtransversely to the feed direction of the conveyor. The drive means forlifting and lowering thelifting platform 45 may be hydraulicallyactuated pressure cylinders 49 (FIG. 3) or any other suitable drivemeans.

According to a further embodiment of the invention the conveyor 40 mayconsist of two endless rotating chain belts 50, 51 the spacing of whichis smaller than the clearance 30 between the retaining cams 29, allowing to lift the conveyor belt 40' beyond the plane defined by theretaining cams 29. I

In its initial position, i.e., in its lowermost position the conveyor 40is flanked by a feed conveyor 52 and a lead-off conveyor 53 whichconveyors are supported by stationary frames 54 and 55 respectively andserve to feed barrels to the conveyor belt 40 or remove barrels from theconveyor belt 40 respectively. The feed conveyor 52 and the lead-offconveyor 53 preferably have the form of roller trains or rollerconveyors which are arranged at right angles to the transport conveyor40. The lengths of the feed and lead-off conveyors 52, 53 correspond atleast to the length of an apparatus for stacking and destackingcomprising several support frames 10 with storage bays 13. The twoconveyors 52, 53 are arranged parallel to each other. The transfer ofbarrels from the feed conveyor 52 is carried out by means of ahydraulically actuated slider 56 which is arranged on one side of thetransfer area of the barrels (FIG. 1). If several apparatus for stackingand destacking are arranged in tandem, every apparatus may be providedwith a transfer slider 56 allowing to alternately supply each of theapparatus with barrels.

In the feeding path of the barrels on the conveyor belt 40 is provided ahorizontally adjustable abutment 60 limiting the length of a row ofbarrels and adjustable in increments corresponding to half a barreldiameter by means of a drive means indicated at 61 towards the feed sideor towards the discharge side of the conveyor belt 40. When the abutment60 is engaged by the first barrel of a row of barrels being fed into theapparatus,

the direction of travel of the abutment 60 is reversed by a controlcontact if a new row of barrels is fed onto the conveyor 40. In the areaof transfer of the barrels from the feed conveyor 52 towards theconveyor 40 is provided a counting device 62 which may have the form ofa light barrier or of a means actuated by sensors. As soon as apredetermined number of barrels, which are to be lined up on theconveyor 40 has been reached, to which the counting device had beenpreviously set the further supply of barrels is stopped. 1f the barrelsare lined up on the conveyor 40 without leaving any clearances betweenthe barrels, the conveyor 40 is stopped and then lifted by the liftingplatform 45. The abutment 60 is not adjusted by the distance of half abarrel diameter until the next supply of barrels is fed in so that therow of barrels is displaced by half the diameter of a barrel against thenext row of barrels, as may be seen in FIG. 1. It is not necessary tostop the movement of the conveyor 40, and the conveyor may continue torotate. For keeping the barrels aligned in a row, vertical guiding walls63, 64 are arranged on either side of the conveyor 40, the spacing ofwhich is adjustable (FIG.

In order to allow stacking of the barrels on top of each othernotwithstanding the compound stacking of the barrels and withoutreducing the stability of the stack, there is provided a pressure plate65 which is guided in the lateral boundary walls 15, 16 of the storagebay 13 whereby the free ends of the pressure plate 65 are guided by theprofile openings 17, 18 of the U-shaped boundary walls 15, 16 (FIGS. 1and 3).

The operation of the apparatus of the present invention may be brieflydescribed as follows: For stacking, barrels F are fed by the feedconveyor 52 onto the conveyor 40 and, as shown in the embodiment ofFIGS. 1 and 2, five barrels F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5 are assembled in a rowR. For this example it will be assumed that the storage bay 13 alreadyholds three rows of barrels, the rows R1, R2 and R3. The individual rowsR1, R2, R3 are mutually displaced against each other by halfa barreldiameter so that the halves of the outermost barrels of the rows R1 andR3 are guided in the boundary wall 16 whereas the outermost barrel inrow R2 is guided by the boundary wall 15. The barrels of the row R1 areheld by the carriage 25, supporting thereby all of the other rows R2, R3stacked on top of the row R1. The barrels of the row R1 are therebysupported by the retaining cams 29 of the carriage as may be seen alsoin FIG. 2.

Since the row of barrels R1 is displaced towards the boundary wall 16,the following row R supported on the conveyor must be displaced towardsthe other side. Therefore the abutment 60 has been moved into itsextreme left hand position. Then the row R is lifted by the liftingplatform so far at first until the barrels of the row R engage the headsof the barrels of row R1. Since the row R is displaced by half a barreldiameter with respect to the row of barrels R1, the row R may be liftedby a further upward-movement of the lifting platform 45 because theretaining carns 29 of the carriage 25 are now disposed in the front andback interspaces formed between any two adjacent barrels. In this way,the row of barrels R may be lifted upwardly past the retaining earns 29(FIG. 2).

The lifting movement of the lifting platform 45 is then continued: Thewhole stack, i.e., all rowsof barrels R, R1, R2, R3 are lifted, therebyraising simultaneously the barrels of the row R1 from the retaining cams29 by which these barrels were supported. This lifting movement is notcompleted until the heads of the barrels of the row R have been liftedabove the retaining earns 29 of the carriage 25. In this position,however, the barrels of the row R may not yet be supported on theretaining earns 29. In this position of the row R above the retainingcams 29 the carriage 25 is pushed by the apparatus mechanically towardsthe left, i.e., towards the boundary wall 15 for a distancecorresponding to half a barrel diameter. By this movement the retainingearns 29 are brought into a position below the heads of the barrels inthe row R. Since the conveyor 40 is arranged in such a manner that theconveyor may be lifted past the retaining cams 29, it is possible toraise the row R above the retaining cams 29. The row R is at that pointstill supported by the'conveyor 40. Subsequently the lifting platform 45together with the conveyor 40 is lowered, bringing the barrels of therow R to rest on the retaining cams 29. The storage bay 13 thenaccommodates four rows of barrels which rows are all supported withinthe storage bay by the carriage 25 and the retaining cams thereof. Assoon as the lifting platform 45 with the conveyor 40 has reached itslower end position the abutment 60 is displaced towards the right byhalf a barrel diameter. Then the conveyor 40 is again energized unlessit is operating continuously, and other barrels are supplied and alignedin a row which is then transported into the storage bay 13 in the mannerpreviously described.

The destacking of the barrels is carried out in the reverse mode ofoperation. The conveyor 40 is raised upwardly until it engages the headsof the barrels supported by the retaining earns 29 of the carriage 25.By a continued upward movement of the conveyor 40 the barrels of thelowermost row are lifted off the retaining cams 29, then the carriage 25is moved towards the left side or towards the right side, depending uponthe direction into which the row has been displaced. In any case, thecarriage 25 must be moved sideways so far until the retaining cams 29are no longer in alignment with the heads of the row of barrels which isintended to be removed but are aligned with the heads of the barrels inthe row on top of this lowermost row.

Then the conveyor 40 is lowered, lowering thereby the whole stack ofbarrels contained in the storage bay 13. As soon as the correspondingrow of barrels comes into engagement with the retaining cams 29 all rowsof barrels which are positioned on top of this lowermost row come to arest and are held in the storage bay l3,

, whereas the lowermost row supported by the conveyor 40 is lowered intothe lower end position of the lifting platform 45 and the barrels areled off over the roller conveyor 53.

The lifting means of the lifting platform 45 with the conveyor 40 andthe drive means 28 of the carriage 25 are operatively coupled by controlmeans not shown in the drawing. This control means allows to perform anoperational sequence in which the carriage 25 will be shifted by halfthe maximum barrel diameter into a position corresponding to thedisplaced position of the row of barrels on the conveyor 40 with respectto the row of barrels held above this row when the retaining membershave been released from the row of barrels held by the carriage 25 orwhen these barrels have been lifted off the retaining cams or retainingmembers. The drive means of the conveyor 40 may be coupled to a cyclecontrol device serving to gradually feed the barrels into a row. Thealignment of the barrels on the conveyor 40 is effected by the guidingwalls 63, 64 which are arranged on either side of the conveyor 40. Thelower longitudinal edges of these guiding walls are movably connected at66 to the frame 46 of the conveyor 40 and may be moved into a verticalposition by power-driven control rods 67, 68. When the conveyor 40 ismoved past the retaining cams 29 of the carriage 25 the guiding walls63, 64 are folded down (FIG. The individual drive means for thesequential operation of conveyor 40, lifting platform 45, carriage 25and abutment 60 are coupled to a program control unit and may beactuated by this unit. It is likewise possible to arrange the controlmeans in a control panel to also allow manual control of operation.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of stacking and destacking barrels, said methodcharacterized in that the barrels are grouped into several rows, theindividual rows of barrels are displaced by a distance corresponding tohalf a barrel diameter towards the one side or the other side, then therows of barrels are lifted into the bottom opening of a storage bay, atthe same time lifting the lowermost row of barrels which is supported byholding members provided in the zone of the feed opening of the storagebay, together with the rows of barrels arranged on top of said lowermostrow of barrels, and keeping the lowermost row of barrels in the liftedposition by means of said holding members, and that for destacking saidbarrels, said holding members are released from engagement with thebarrels of said lowermost row of barrels and said lowermost row ofbarrels together with the rows of barrels supported on top ofsaidlowermost row of barrels are lowered by a distance corresponding tothe height of one row of barrels and said lowermost row of barrels isled off while, at the same time, the next now lowermost row of barrelsis engaged by said holding members.

1. A method of stacking and destacking barrels, said methodcharacterized in that the barrels are grouped into several rows, theindividual rows of barrels are displaced by a distance corresponding tohalf a barrel diameter towards the one side or the other side, then therows of barrels are lifted into the bottom opening of a storage bay, atthe same time lifting the lowermost row of barrels which is supported byholding members provided in the zone of the feed opening of the storagebay, together with the rows of barrels arranged on top of said lowermostrow of barrels, and keeping the lowermost row of barrels in the liftedposition by means of said holding members, and that for destacking saidbarrels, said holding members are released from engagement with thebarrels of said lowermost row of barrels and said lowermost row ofbarrels together with the rows of barrels supported on top of saidlowermost row of barrels are lowered by a distance corresponding to theheight of one row of barrels and said lowermost row of barrels is ledoff while, at the same time, the next now lowermost row of barrels isengaged by said holding members.